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The Science Of Comfort Food

Whether you hail from the Mediterranean or Italy or not, there’s no denying that Italian food is comforting. Spaghetti and meatballs, cheesy lasagna, chicken parmesan, cheese pizza, cheese ravioli…the list could go on and on. But why do these foods make us feel comforted? We already know that there’s something seriously addictive about cheese, but there’s definitely something about Italian food that brings comfort.

Nobody has completely pinpointed the answer, but a lot of the popularity of “comfort foods” comes from the idea that food is associated with emotions. Everyone’s memories are different, of course, but there are certainly foods that have a special place in our hearts. For some, it’s pizza, because it represented a happier time, or a break from the ordinary. Or it could be something as simple as root beer floats in the afternoon, symbolizing the end of a hard day at school. For others, it’s spaghetti and meatballs, because their grandmother used to make the pasta and meatballs from scratch, filling their home with the tantalizing smells.

Much of the appeal of comfort food is the idea of going back to things that make us feel better. After all, there are sometimes days where everything goes wrong and you want to be a kid again. It’s those days when Eggplant Parmesan is the first thing on my mind, along with chocolate brownies, hot and gooey right out of the oven.

When you’re feeling alone, comfort food can also seem to fill the void. Don’t take my word for it; it’s science! Not only do you associate foods with happy times, but comfort food can also be a stand in when you feel isolated in social situations. There’s a reason why we seek out the things that are most familiar to us, especially when we return to our hometown if we’ve left it. If you’re a Chicagoan, that can mean deep dish pizza. If you’re from California, it could be an In-n-Out burger. If you’re a Mainer, it could be a lobster roll, or fried clam strips. These items share a special space in our hearts that symbolize how we feel with the people we love and cherish most. In this case, it’s not just food!

The beauty of comfort food is you can always continue to make memories. If Italian food puts a smile on your face, we say, indulge. Whether you come in or we come to you, Ricetta’s has comfort food down to a science. Sure, we don’t have deep dish pizza (you won’t find this delicacy anywhere in Maine!) but we do have wood fire specialty pizzas, savory pastas, and other delicious offerings that will fill the comfort food void.